


Sleep

by thotbarnes



Series: Stevebucky ficlets [2]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Universe, M/M, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), implied post traumatic stress disorder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-02 19:21:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16311182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thotbarnes/pseuds/thotbarnes
Summary: Bucky Barnes can't sleep at night. Tony thinks he might have a solution to that problem.





	Sleep

“SERIOUSLY TONY??” Bucky yelled at the bottom of Tony Stark’s feet, watching him fly away in his Iron Man suit.

“So why are we here exactly?” Steve asked Bucky, also staring at Tony, confused and wondering what the hell they’re doing on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere and why the hell Tony just decided to kidnap them and plop them there. “TONY???”

Everything had been going good up until that point. They had finally gotten everyone back from the soul stone. The war was finally over, and everyone had taken a break from trying to save the day now that there was relative calm in the number of people trying to end the world. Tony and Steve had made up, and Steve was even staying in the Avengers compound along with Bucky considering neither of them really had homes to go back to after the fighting was over. They had spent the past few weeks trying to deal with the media backlash, working on clean up, and paying tribute to the fallen soldiers from Wakanda who had given their lives to defeat Thanos. Things had only recently become more…normal. At least as normal as they could get living in a house whose tenants could be found walking through walls and hanging from the ceiling shouting internet jokes at anyone who would listen.

At first, Bucky attributed his lack of sleep to being too keyed up from the fighting and being in an unfamiliar environment around people he still didn’t fully trust to keep him safe. As time went on, though, there were fewer reasons for him be anxious, yet he still hadn’t been sleeping. Which brought him to this. He had been going over some fighting maneuvers in his room at four that morning when he had gotten a text from Tony, “Stop pretending you don’t know why you’re not sleeping.” Bucky had simply responded with a “?” before hopping in the shower and getting dressed. When he was finished, he checked his phone again noticing he had another text from Tony, “Maybe you would sleep better with a pair of supersolider arms around you..” Bucky had quickly closed out of the text and left the room when the next thing he knows he’s being lifted by Tony, already holding a struggling Steve Rogers and being flown out the door. Knowing they weren’t in danger, Steve and Bucky decided to sit tight for the ride and figure out where Tony was taking them. Of course, they didn’t expect that Tony would be taking them to a deserted island and leave them there.

“Ya know I don’t think he’s coming back any time soon….” Bucky told Steve, not answering the first part of his question about why they had been taken there, to begin with. “Maybe we should go sit in the shade.”

As they sat, Bucky made sure not to sit too close to Steve, a habit of his developed back in the 30’s after people started commenting on how much the two boys casually touched each other.

“You sure you don’t know why we’re here? When Tony snatched me from my room, he said something along the lines of, ‘I can’t believe Barnes is making me do this.’”

Bucky just rolled his eyes. “He’s so overdramatic. He just uh…happened to notice I haven’t been sleeping is all. I don’t know how this plan came out of it.”

“Maybe he thought…you needed to talk about it?” Steve asked, inching himself a little closer to Bucky. “Ya know, I’ve noticed you weren’t sleeping too. You are across the hall from me after all. I didn’t want to be pushy, but maybe Tony’s got the right idea after all…”

“Please Steve I don’t want to talk about it,” Bucky answered, inching himself away from Steve so that they were the same distance apart again.

“C’mon Buck. Do you know what it was like having to lose you for the second time? Right in front of me without being able to do anything? And now I’m here losing you all over again and not knowing what to do about it because you won’t let me in.”

Shit, Bucky thought, emotions rising inside of him. He had been avoiding thinking about this for weeks. Thinking about what it felt like to feel himself disappearing, trying to get to Steve, trying to get close to him, and not being able to in time. Seeing the look on Steve’s face. Knowing he might never see Steve again. The relief he felt when he came back to see Steve smiling at him, just like he always had been. He didn’t know how to deal with his emotions and had been withdrawing from Steve, not sure how to act around him anymore. Oddly enough, it was Tony he had ended up spending more time, despite how they had ended things before the war. It seemed Tony was starting to pick up on what Bucky had been feeling, though he desperately wished he hadn’t.

“Please Buck…just talk to me,” Steve whispered, moving closer to Bucky again. Only this time, instead of inching, Steve moved all the way next to Bucky, pulling him into a hug hesitantly.

Unable to stop himself upon feeling the touch, the touch he had wanted for weeks without knowing how to ask for it, Bucky broke down, folding himself into Steve’s arms.

“I thought…I would never…see you again,” Bucky sobbed into Steve’s shoulder, finally letting himself feel everything he had been keeping inside.

“You know I would never let that happen,” Steve replied with a small smile. “I’m with you til the end of the line, remember?” Something about the way Steve was smiling, the way his arms were around Bucky’s shoulders, the way he was rubbing Bucky’s back softly to calm him down, something just clicked inside of Bucky and made him do what he had wanted to do since he was a kid. He leaned over and kissed Steve, just a peck, just enough, before drawing back in fear at what his best friend would think. He didn’t have to wonder for long, because all of a sudden, Steve was leaning forward and kissing him back, a small, loving kiss, and suddenly Bucky’s tears were becoming tears of joy, of relief. Bucky pulled back, smiling at Steve through the tears in his eyes, unsure what to say. Fortunately, Steve didn’t seem to think they needed to say anything and just pulled Bucky in for another hug, laying them down on the sand and continuing to rub his back in the most comforting of ways.

And that’s how Tony found them a few hours later when he came back to check on them, arms wrapped around each other, both of them asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on:  
> twitter: @thotbarnes  
> tumblr: @stevebqcky


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